Modern culture is deeply committed to the idea of progress: that history is a story headed someplace good. But often, no matter how much progress we make, it feels like we’re stuck in a doom loop. This famous prophecy from Micah shows us how Jesus helps us in the midst of our stuck places
One of the biggest realities we are wrestling with this past year is the reality that we are not in control. We desperately want control over the world, yet are constantly crushed when our attempts fail. This is an admittedly bleak picture. But it is precisely into the bleakness of this reality that this passage about a coming King speaks most powerfully.
Many people are spiritually curious, but suspicious of traditional religion. How would Jesus speak into this? What is authentic spirituality? Jesus shows us in this passage, which is about his relationship to God’s word.
In the beatitudes, Jesus offers us an “aspirational identity.” The challenge is, much of it isn’t anything we would aspire to. Especially persecution. But what if Jesus sees more of reality than we do? What if persecution is part of a greater life, and a deeper joy, he offers?
We live in an incredibly distracted age (especially digital distractions), with many different things competing for our limited attention. Yet what we give our utmost attention to is deeply connected to the persons we become. How? Jesus shows us in the sixth beatitude.
If you’ve ever felt like there are corners of your life that aren’t quite “right,” and that there’s another kind of life available to you (of peace, joy, light, beauty, goodness, etc), Jesus shows us what that is. It’s righteousness. What does that mean? Join us as we explore the fourth beatitude.
We live in a time of profound social, political, and religious unrest. Many of us are questioning what the Church's relationship to government, to justice, and to power ought to be. Jesus tells us: "Blessed are the meek." But what does that mean? And does that hold any answers to the questions our world is asking? Join us as we seek to listen to Jesus.
Ungrieved losses lead to unhealed lives. This beatitude (“blessed are those who mourn”) gives us Jesus’s answer to the grief of our pain and loss, enabling us to grieve our losses, and find healing for them.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is inviting us to become a different people. It’s all about who we are becoming. But it begins by showing us what God is doing.
"The kingdom of God" is at the heart of Jesus's message and the life he offers. But unless we understand what the kingdom is, we won't be able to enter into the good life he offers us in the Sermon on the Mount.
Have you ever wondered why God allows such pain and suffering in the world? It's a common objection against belief in the God of the Bible. It is also a common question for Christians to wrestle with. The good news is that God has given us a whole book of the Bible that addresses that very issue. Join us as we explore the problem of suffering in the book of Job.
To our modern ears, the second coming of Jesus Christ sounds like a flight from reality. But what if it is the ultimate reality, in light of which nothing in our lives can remain the same? Whether you're exploring following Jesus, or have been following him for decades, none of us can ignore his emphasis on this and its implications for our lives. Join us for the concluding sermon in our series on Revelation!
Our lives are full of struggles. What would make the defining difference in your life? Our world is full of evil and brokenness. What would make the defining difference in our world? This passage, the climax of the book of Revelation shows us. It's the presence of God. It makes all the difference in the world.
It's easy to think of Revelation as a fantastical book that's only concerned with the future, and therefore meaningless for our lives right now. But Revelation gave the first Christians something that enabled them to face unimaginable suffering and persecution. If we see what they saw, we can have what they had.
Stories help us makes sense of our lives. Especially, they give us hope, because we want to imagine that the story is headed somewhere good. If that impulse is just an evolutionary code, then we are fools to believe it. But this passage shows us that every storyline finds its ultimate happy ending in Jesus.